Second man pleads guilty in Falls gun case

LOCKPORT – Michael S. Loverdi admitted Friday that he had a loaded handgun with him April 26 when he and another man unwittingly interrupted a Niagara Falls police drug raid on a Third Street apartment.

Loverdi, 20, of 20th Street in the Falls, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and could receive up to seven years in prison when he is sentencing March 28 by Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III.

Assistant District Attorney Peter M. Wydysh said Loverdi had a gun in his pocket and friend Michael D. Ramos, 19, of Pine Avenue, had one in his waistband when officers collared them after they knocked on the door of an apartment that police were searching for drugs.

Ramos pleaded guilty Dec. 20 to attempted second-degree burglary and attempted second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The former charge stemmed from the theft of long guns and jewelry from a 19th Street home Aug. 27 or 28, 2011.

Ramos is to receive five years in prison when he returns before Murphy March 14.